Caitlin Emmaof Politico.com paid a visit to Finland and was surprised to discover that teachers are not depending on educational technology. By contrast, American schools are spending billions of dollars on tablets, laptops, and other devices.
She writes:
“Finnish students and teachers didn’t need laptops and iPads to get to the top of international education rankings, said Krista Kiuru, minister of education and science at the Finnish Parliament. And officials say they aren’t interested in using them to stay there.
“That’s in stark contrast to what reformers in the U.S. say. From President Barack Obama on down, they have called education technology critical to improving schools. By shifting around $2 billion in existing funds and soliciting $2 billion in contributions from private companies, the Obama administration is pressing to expand schools’ access to broadband and the devices that thrive on it.
“School districts nationwide have loaded up students with billions of dollars’ worth of tablets, laptops, iPods and more on the theory that, as Obama said last year, preparing American kids to compete with students around the globe will require interactive, individualized learning experiences driven by new technology.”
(Since the research on the benefits of technology is sparse, it is likely that the heavy U.S. investment in technology is driven by something other than research.)
The Finnish secret: recruiting excellent students into the teaching profession, which is respected and prestigious; according the teachers professional autonomy; working closely with the educators’ union to promote better education; no standardized testing until the end of high school; no charters; no vouchers.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/finland-school-system-107137.html#ixzz332KBNyYL
A good teacher can do more with an old-fashioned piece of chalk and a blackboard than a lousy teacher could if he or she had the design team of Pixar sitting in the next room at his or her command. Seriously.
Kids want to think and experience things they haven’t thought and experienced before. They aren’t impressed just because something goes flash and boom and tells them, “Great Job, Robert!” Quite the opposite.
I would go so far to say that a good teacher can teach outside in the sand with a stick and a rock. It just takes interested students and the freedom to learn. And then it can grow from there.
Literally true.
I’ve read that the shape of the figure for zero comes from the impression left by a stone in the sand when you take that stone away.
It would be fun to take a bunch of teachers and give them this assignment. OK, here’s a sandbox, a stick, and a rock. Teach something. I suspect that one would get some wonderful variety.
Recipe
A stick, some sand, a rock,
Add a teacher, students
Mix well
Yield: a culture
–with apologies to the late Maya Angelou
As a coach we had a saying ” We can teach kids how to play baseball in a parking lot if that is all we have”
So when will we begin to address poverty in a meaningful, substantive way in our country?
I think this article sets up a false dichotomy. Finland’s educational system focuses first and foremost on teacher quality and preparation. The top college students in Finland go into teaching, rather than Wall St or Silicon Valley. I wonder how much of a factor technology is, one way or the other? I suspect Finland’s teachers would do quite well in tech-centric classrooms, as they do in tech-lite classrooms.
There are two separate questions here. One is: how do we build the best and brightest teaching staff in American schools? Two is: how should we integrate technology in education? To argue that one is related to the other is a distraction, and avoids the real issues.
johnranta ,
Finland’s National Core Curriculum is fascinating to read.
http://www.oph.fi/download/47671_core_curricula_basic_education_1.pdf
I think the point of Dr. Ravitch’s highlighting of the Politico piece about Finland is that the FInns don’t find it necessary to binge on technological gadgetry in order to provide a good education. My personal experience is that it is very Scandinavian to understand that sometimes less is more. I also understand that Finland is not part of Scandinavia, so I correct myself. But they’re definitely Nordic.
Teacher preparation is one of their acknowledged strengths, but they also have a very detailed, well-structured curriculum which describes what Finland’s students will receive. Education is seen as the children’s preparation for life, and it is likewise well thought out.
It isn’t you who has written this, but I often read in discussions about Finland’s education system that the teachers are well prepared and then the government gets out of the way and lets them teach. When I read from their curriculum, however, I am overwhelmed by the amount of knowledge, skill, and experience Finnish teachers are required to provide to their students. I also read that they make up their own assessments. True enough, but again, the assessments are structured within the curriculum and its requirements, and the government defines, on a numerical scale, what constitutes “good performance.”
I think there are misconceptions about what actually happens in Finland, and I advocate paying close attention to what they do. Why? Because they live in peace, and we don’t.
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Texas Education.
Finnish schools teach us simple but undeniable fact about teaching:
Technology CANNOT replace basic human interaction in the classroom.
It’s always been about the learning, not the technology, television, textbook, etc. That said, it’s awfully difficult to prepare graduates for a digital world if they don’t get to use digital learning tools in meaningful ways in school.
Not sure what the point is here. Doesn’t the article state that the Finns also are investing in ‘tablets, laptops, and other devices?’ And why wouldn’t we invest in those as educators, given that personal computing devices coupled with the Internet constitute the most powerful learning tools yet invented by mankind?